All posts filed under: Japan

Japan Train Timetables

Published by

I’ve been sitting at my computer planning my next trip. I fly from Okinawa to Tokyo, but will travel by train from Tokyo to Hachinohe to Aomori to Niigata and then back to Tokyo. A decade ago figuring out the how, what, when and where of this journey would have been tricky even for a Japanese speaker. Now in the age of the internet, and with a growing appreciation of English speakers in Japan there is a solution, visit the website hyperdia  and simply enter your start point and destination. There are a few niggles in the system (It seems to assume Tokyo always mean Tokyo Disneyland) but overall I have found it a fantastic resource when planning trips.  

Baraka

Published by

A couple of years ago I met up with Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert, a Tokyo based photographer who produces fantastic images for clients ranging from The Guardian to Greenpeace. During our conversation he asked which photographers I was inspired by. There was a rather embarrassing pause, followed by me admitting that I had always been inspired more by TV and movies than photographers.  The truth is it was the images from documentaries like The Trials of Life and movies such as Dances with Wolves and Braveheart that were truly awe-inspiring. There is one film above all others that really affected me  – Baraka. Baraka is a fantastic journey through 24 countries with breathtaking cinematography.  I was amazed when I saw it 14 years ago as a university student, and it still inspires me. One wonderful thing is that I have now been to some of the places captured in the film. I have witnessed snow monkeys relaxing in their hot spring pools, and thousands of commuters surge through Tokyo’s stations. In a previous post I talked about film size and the tradeoff between film size( …

Police Performance

Published by

The South Yorkshire police recently acquired a new pursuit car in the form of a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X. British police have for several years used Mitsubishi Evo’s and Subaru Imprezas which have helped catch numerous wayward motorist and provided a steady stream of exciting chases for shows like the BBC’s Car Wars.  The main police car in Japan is the Toyota Crown (rebranded in the US as a Lexus) but they also have a few special cars including a Godzilla… and a wonderful, yet somewhat impractical, Honda NSX.

Edy & Free Flights with ANA

Published by

Flying around Japan is expensive. There are no discount airlines offering ridiculously cheap fares. For the most part, there are just two options ANA or JAL, and neither are cheap. You can save some money if you fly around your birthday with the special birthday tickets offers, or by buying tickets more than a month in advance. Another option, which is very popular with Japanese, is to get a hotel flight package from a local travel agent.  The cheapest way to fly, however, is to use an airline’s mileage programme and get tickets for free. Both ANA and JAL have a mileage club, and both are affiliated with numerous other airlines to help you build up miles.       Last summer when I flew back to the UK the cheapest flight was with Qatar Airways. The flight was good, and as a bonus the mileage from Qatar Airways could be put onto my ANA Mileage Club card. At the start of December I checked my mileage balance and saw I had  10,400 miles. Unfortunately, …

Tokyo Intersections

Published by

Tokyo has several iconic intersections. They turn up again and again in movies whenever cinematographers want to show a dazzling display of neon lights, traffic, pedestrians and undecipherable kanji. You’ve probably seen them in Lost in Translation, The Fast and the Furious – Tokyo Drift and most recently in Jumper I’ve taken photographs at the same intersections. Here’s one of Ginza yon-chome and one of Shinjuku Perhaps the most famous intersection is the one in Shibuya known as Hachiko Square Crossing (named for the nearby statue of the dog Hachiko) Akihabara intersection is at the heart of the electronics district but rather than show a photo I thought I would post a video by fellow Japan blogger Danny Choo who likes to spend his time free time bringing a smile to the faces of tired salarymen and office ladies.

Sapporo Snow Festival

Published by

One frustration I have with some travel blogs is that you usually hear about exciting events after they have happened. Several times I have read about a fantastic festival, and wish that I’d known about it previously. So here’s one that’s coming up. The 2009 Sapporo Snow Festival ( Sapporo Yuki Matsuri ) will be held February 5 through February 11. You can read more details about visiting Hokkaido in winter here.   This photograph brings back a lot of memories for me as it came from the first roll of film I put in my first SLR camera way back in February 2000.